The Saponin of Fenugreek Seeds

Abstract

THE presence of a saponin in the seeds of Trigonella Foenum græcum (Leguminosæ) was first reported by Wunschendorff¹, who had subjected the defatted seeds to a process of extraction with alcohol. He obtained from the alcoholic extract a gelatinous precipitate which was afterwards dissolved in alcohol and reprecipitated with ether. Wunschendorff described the product so obtained as a white semicrystalline powder, m.p. 214–215°, which gave a yellow colour test with concentrated sulphuric acid, and a white precipitate with barium hydroxide solution. However, he could not assign a definite formula to the saponin, but showed that it gives by hydrolysis a reducing sugar and water-insoluble sapogenin.